A man was put to work dealing drugs after gangsters threatened him with a hot iron and forced him to undress on camera.
Ryan Leonard was held against his will and subjected to threats after racking up a debt, with the footage then widely circulated online. Police even believed that the 28-year-old's life was under threat, and he set about paying off the owed monies via a "persistent, professional" heroin and crack cocaine supplying operation.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that police on patrol on Oxton Road in Birkenhead at around 3.30pm on June 8 this year spotted the wanted man, of Boaler Street in Kensington, "acting suspiciously around a group of drug users". Leonard was found in possession of £675 in cash when officers searched him.
